


Saving Me

by Kazbaby



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Ben Parker Dies, Ben Parker taught Peter well, Dead May Parker (Spider-Man), Gen, Irondad, Parent Tony Stark, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter gets his powers at a younger age, Post-Iron Man 2, Pre-Avengers (2012), Precious Peter Parker, Protective Tony Stark, Smart Peter Parker, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark is Good With Kids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-27
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-18 14:40:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29735406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kazbaby/pseuds/Kazbaby
Summary: While working on the plans for the new Stark Tower, Jarvis alerts Tony to a phone call he needs to take."I need to talk to Mr. Stark. I need help. I helped him with the robots at his Expo and I think my aunt and uncle are hurt bad and I'm scared."
Relationships: Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 17
Kudos: 342





	Saving Me

**Author's Note:**

> This story came out of left field while working on what was supposed to be my first MCU fic. Looks like this one has turned out be my first official MCU story.
> 
> This story will be a stand alone but if anyone wants to do a sequel, feel free. Just let me know. I hope you all enjoy the story.

_"Sir, there's something I believe requires your attention,"_ Jarvis stated, interrupting Tony as he was going over the blueprints of his new tower and the progress report sent in by the building manager in charge of the different foremen. 

"What is it?" he asked, jotting down a note to himself about a possible change in the electrical system.

Instead of answering exactly, Jarvis began playing a recording. 

"Stark Industries, how may I direct your call?" 

"Hello, can I please speak to Mr. Stark?" A child's voice asked.

"Excuse me?" The receptionist's voice lost its neutral tone and immediately sounded irritated. 

"I need to talk to Mr. Stark. I need help. I helped him with the robots at his Expo and I think my aunt and uncle are hurt bad and I'm scared." Tony's breath catches at the fear in the little boy's voice.

"I'm sorry, young man, but it's after business hours and Mr. Stark is too busy to..." Her voice is cut off by Jarvis suddenly. _"Ms. Collins, thank you for your assistance. I will personally deal with this phone call."_ There's a click as the line to the main phone line disconnects. 

_"Hello, my name is Jarvis. May I have your name for reference?"_

"My name is Peter. Peter Parker."

_"Thank you, Peter. You said you require Mr. Stark's help?"_ Tony could hear soft sniffling over the speaker. 

"Someone came into our apartment a little bit ago and I heard them asking where I was and they hurt my aunt and uncle before there was some loud bangs. I hid so the bad guys couldn't get me like Uncle Ben said to do. I helped Mr. Stark with the robots and he's Iron Man and I was hoping he could help me."

_"Peter, I am Mr. Stark's personal AI. I assist and help protect him. Do you know what that means?"_

"Yeah, you're a learning computer and can work independently of programming as you grow."

_"Very good,"_ Jarvis' voice was pitched more gently than Tony had ever heard it before. He was also impressed at the boy, Peter because he sounded young. Very young. _"I believe that Mr. Stark may be able to help you, but he will need to know where you are to do so."_

"I-I d-don't know where I am. I climbed down the fire escape and just ran and ran until I found a place to hide." The sniffling had turned into sobs by the time Peter finished.

_"I understand, Peter. You did the right thing. Tell me, the phone you are using, who's name is it listed under. I may be able to trace the call."_

"My uncle's, Ben Parker." 

_"Thank you, Peter. I will trace the call for Mr. Stark. Now, I am going to put you on hold a moment while I get him on the phone. Do not be frightened by the momentary silence."_

"Okay. Thank you, Mr. Jarvis." There was a double click on the phone. 

_"Sir..."_

"Go ahead and put him through. I want to know as soon as you have his location, I'm heading out the door now." Tony placed the Bluetooth in his ear.

"Hello," he said to introduce himself.

"Mr. Stark?"

"That's me. Jarvis said you need some help. We're trying to find you now and I'm on my way. Can you tell me anything about the bad guys that came?"

"No, I didn't see them but I heard them. They wanted me. I think it's a cause of me getting powers. But my aunt and uncle said to not talk about those cause people will try and hurt me to experiment on me."

"Okay, okay, we won't talk about that just yet -"

 _"Sir, I have his location. I have sent it to your GPS."_

"Thanks, J. Peter, I'll be there soon."

"I heard Mr. Jarvis. He's nice."

"Yeah, he's the best.

"How old are you, Peter?"

"Ten. I helped you fight a robot at your Expo. And since you're Iron Man, I knew you'd be able to help me now."

Tony stumbles a bit in shock. "That was _you_? Wow... you were so brave that night. Hell, you're being super brave and smart right now. I shouldn't cuss like that around you. Don't need you cursing like a sailor."

Tony was pleased to hear a little giggle from the boy. "Tell you something that no one knows, but I was scared that night. So if you're scared right now, that's okay," he says as he enters the garage.

"You were?" There was awe in Peter's voice. 

"Yeah, just because you get scared doesn't mean you aren't brave. Remember that."

"I will."

Tony gets in the most non-descript car he owns and starts it. "I'm heading out now, Peter," he looks down at the GPS, "I should be there in about twenty minutes or less. How's the battery on your phone?"

"It was charged up when I grabbed it. I had it plugged up after I got home from my friend's house. Phones aren't a toy so I can't be on it unless it's an emergency or if I go over to Ned's." 

"Smart," he needed a way to distract the boy to keep him from panicking, "Can you tell me about yourself, like what you do at school?"

"Umm... I like science, and math, and Legos. They keep trying to make me skip grades at school but my aunt and uncle won't let them because then I won't get to be with kids my age."

"Well, I agree. They did that to me when I was your age. Even though I was bored at school I hated being around kids bigger than me."

"You went to MIT when you were 15. That must have been scary."

"It was, but I met my best friend there."

"Really? That's good. I want to go to college with my best friend, Ned, but I don't think I'll get to. Aunt May took me out of my school two days ago. We started packing up everything in boxes and Uncle Ben took almost all of my stuff out already, even the computer I built, all I have now is a suitcase with some clothes. When I asked May why she said we were moving pretty far away."

"Oh? Where to?"

"She said she'd tell me when we were on the way there. Mr. Stark, May sounded funny when she told me that. Like she was scared."

Hearing that, it felt like cold water ran down Tony's back. So whoever showed up at the Parker's tonight was not unexpected. Tony hits the mute for the phone. "Get me every speck of information you can get on the Parkers." He unmutes the phone.

"You still there?" Peter asked, panicked.

"Yeah, buddy. Still here. Just thinking. I'm almost there. Just a few minutes. What else do you like to do at school? Do you play sports?"

"No, I have asthma really bad, but I forgot my inhaler when I ran. But I haven't had an attack since I started having powers. And I don't have to wear glasses anymore. Which is really cool because I couldn't see at all when I wasn't wearing them before. I could have started to play soccer but I didn't want anyone to think it was weird that I could suddenly do stuff that I couldn't do before I got bit."

"Bit?"

Tony could hear Peter's breathing speed up for a moment over the phone before answering, "I'm not supposed to tell anyone," there was a pause and he would swear he heard a smack as if Peter hit himself, "I keep messing up and telling you about stuff I'm not supposed to talk about."

"How about this, once we get you to a safe place. I'll have someone go check on your aunt and uncle. Once we're all together we'll talk about it and make a plan. Maybe the three of you can tell me about your powers. Deal?"

"I don't think they're okay. I heard my aunt and uncle yelling. M-May scr-screamed. I think those bangs I heard were g-guns, Mr. Stark. I hear them sometimes outside and on tv. I think they killed my aunt and uncle because of m-me." Tony could tell he was trying not to cry.

He didn't know what to say. What _can_ you say to a little kid who thinks his family was murdered. "Let's - let's just hope for the best before thinking about that."

_"Sir, you're approaching Peter's location. There is an alley entrance thirty meters on your right."_

"I'm pulling in now, Peter," the three-story-tall building looked like it was in the process of being converted into a self-storage business. "Where are you at in this place, and how did you get in?" 

"Um... I climbed up the wall. I'm sticky so it was easy. I had to break the window to get in."

Getting out of the car, Tony looked around for an entrance. "Powers, right. I need to remember that." He found a door near one of the loading bays. "Shit."

"What's wrong?" Peter fearfully asked.

"Nothing, I just need to find a way to get through this lock. Give me a sec to find something in the car." Tony runs back to the car's trunk as it opens. There's a toolbox setting inside. Sifting around, he grabs a small case. No one ever thinks that there might be a lock-pick set in a toolbox, but really where else would you keep one? He grabs the small flashlight in there as well.

It doesn't take him too long to get the door open. "I'm in, buddy. I've got a flashlight so if you see the light let me know. Are you on the ground floor?"

"I'm on the top floor. I figured they wouldn't think to look for me up here. I'm not sure where the stairs are, but I can go look for them and go down to meet you."

"No, there's quite a bit of construction here and I don't know if there are any areas you might fall through if you go searching. I'll just get some extra cardio in. That was a good idea about hiding high up." 

It doesn't take him long to locate the stairs and make it to the second floor. 

"I can hear you, Mr. Stark."

He must be near the stairs. When Tony arrives on the third floor, he doesn't see the kid immediately like thought. "Can you see my light yet, Peter?" 

"Not yet, I'm on the side by the road." Tony paused in surprise and added 'enhanced hearing' to the list that was starting to grow for little Peter Parker.

"I see your light. I'm coming!" This time Tony could hear the exclamation over the phone and across the building. Footsteps are running and suddenly he sees a short moppet with curls in front of him. "Hi, I'm Peter," he says and hangs up his phone before carefully putting it away in his pajama pocket.

"Hello to you too, I'm Tony," he takes in the pajamas and dirty bare feet that seem to have more than a little bit of blood on them, "Let's get you out of here, kiddo. Um, it looks like you've cut your feet there. I think I might need to carry you out of here, we don't want to make them bleed worse. Do you mind if I do that?"

"O-okay. I kicked the window in but I cut myself a little bit when I climbed in. I think I got all of the glass out and my feet are all healed up already."

"Just humor me, kid. No need to make things worse if we can prevent it." Tony reaches down and pulls the boy up and rests him on his hip. "Comfy?"

He gets a nod in response. "Okay, let's get you out of here."

"Where are we going?"

"I have a place near here that I stay at when I'm in town. We got lucky I was here and not in Malibu or out of the country."

"I saw on the news that you were in town because of your new building. Is it true that you're going to put one of your big arc reactors in it to run it?"

"Sure is. Working on saving the environment and all that. We got to try and make the world a better place, right?"

They reach the exit to the building and Tony looks around to make sure there isn't anyone around. "It's safe, Mr. Stark." 

"How do you know?"

Peter shrugs. "I don't know. I just these tingly shivers when something bad is going to hurt me. That's why I woke up just before the bad guys came but they came too fast for me to warn Uncle Ben. He's a policeman and he used to be a policeman for the army or something before that but they still hurt him."

 _"Sir, I've alerted Mr. Hogan of the situation. He has driven past the Parker's apartment building. Someone must have called the authorities. I'm afraid there isn't any good news."_ Tony felt the boy's body stiffen up. _"Once they have left, he will investigate further."_

Tony didn't know what to say at the news that the boy's aunt and uncle were dead. He just knew that he had to get the kid out of sight for the time being. 

The front passenger-side door opens for them, Tony crouches down to buckle Peter in and he can see the tears streaming down the kid's face. "I'm sorry, kid." 

"They were my last fam- family. I'm all alone now." Peter was starting to shake as he began to cry harder and covered up his face.

"I'll - I'll figure out something. I promise." He caressed the back of Peter's head for a moment before standing. 

There aren't any words of comfort that Tony can give to the boy as they drive back to his penthouse and he feels horrible for that. All he knows is that when his parents had died, nothing anyone said made a damn bit of difference in the long run. Sure, he had Stane as his 'legal guardian until he turned 18, but the fact of the matter was he didn't have any family left and nothing could fix that fact. So he knows what Peter is feeling right now.

When they arrived back at the penthouse, Tony carried Peter again and didn't mind when Peter tucked his head against his shoulder. The kid was exhausted, both physically and mentally at this point. "Let's get you cleaned up." He took him into his bathroom where he knew they kept everything he needed. After setting him on the bathroom counter he got a couple of washrags and soaked them in warm water. 

Other than momentary interactions with fans, Tony doesn't have any experience with kids and it worries him a bit that he'll screw something up. Taking one of the washrags, Tony gently washed the bottoms of Peter's feet. Paying attention to the boy to see if the cloth catches on a piece of glass that may have been missed since it was pretty dark where Peter had been hiding. "Feel anything?" 

Peter shook his head. "No, sir."

"Good to know. You did pretty good at getting it all out, better than I would have if it was me." Tossing the dirty washcloth into the bathtub, he picked up the remaining one. "Now, do you want to do your face and hands or do you want me to do it," he asked wanting to give Peter a little bit of control of something on what had to be the worst night of his life. 

"Can you do it?"

"Sure can, buddy," he begins gently washing the smudges of dirt from Peter's face, "After this, we'll get some food in you. Is there anything you can't eat?" 

"I dunno. I used to be allergic to nuts and shellfish but I'm different now." Tony has got to hand it to the kid, he's trying his best to not spill his secret - even if he's terrible at it.

"I think I have some alfredo leftover from dinner. Sound good to you?"

There a subtle nod in response. The shock of the entire night is wearing on the little boy and Tony can tell it won't be long before he either falls asleep or just shuts down. Wrapping Peter's hands in the cloth to give them a wash, he tells him, "I'll heat some garlic bread for us as well because I'm starting to get hungry here." Throwing the other washrag in with the first, Tony helps Peter down from the counter wishing he had a change of clothes for the kid. 

"All right, time to eat." 

Entering the kitchen, Tony helps Peter up on the barstool at the center island before beginning to pull out food. Sadly, the garlic bread is the pre-made stuff since he hasn't had the time or inclination to make any from scratch in a long time.

"So you like science, math, and legos - that sounds like a pretty full schedule. What about your aunt and uncle? Do you do things with them?"

"I watch movies with Uncle Ben. Star Wars is our favorite. He even gave me his action figures that he kept from when he was a kid. We also try and go to see the Mets when he can get tickets. I have fun even if I can't see the players very good cause we're so high up. Uncle Ben will jump up and down and yell a lot. It's funny."

Tony smiles at that. He's never been into sports but he does find the fan's reactions amusing.

"Aunt May likes to cook but she's not too good at it. I try and help her but things keep burning anyway. She's a nurse. So she's tired a lot."

Nodding, Tony tells him, "Yeah, nurses are the toughest because they have to help so many people." He hears the elevator doors open and looks up to Happy walking into the room. His friend nods his head in the direction of the living room. 

"So, how is it? Not too hot for you?" he asks as he puts a piece of garlic bread on a saucer.

Peter pokes a finger in the middle of the plate of noodles. He shakes his head as he licks the sauce off of the finger. "Nope. All good, Mr. Stark!"

"Well, dig in. I have to talk to my friend real quick and I'll be back to join you." He watches as Peter starts trying to get the fettucini noodles to twirl on his fork. 

When he joins Happy, he tells him, "Let's take this further down the hall." Happy looks at him in confusion but follows his boss.

"So...?" 

"Both of them were shot point-blank, multiple times. Whoever did this was either really pissed or just wanted to be sure they were dead. I was able to get into the apartment for a few minutes and give it a quick look. There's no sign that a kid even lives there. No pictures, no toys. The way it looks, they'll probably chalk it up to home burglery gone wrong."

_"Sir, it appears that Ben Parker was more than a former 'policeman with the Army' as Peter stated. He was a former agent with the CIA. He had the skills to essentially erase all traces of Peter Parker. While he was quite skilled, I was still able to locate the 'echoes' of this information. I have a more thorough dossier on the Parkers but I should also point out that the child has no other family as he lost his parents to a plane crash when was five years old."_

Tony looked in the direction of the little boy who just lost everything, including the records of existence. "Let's finish what his family started, clean everything up, J."

"What are you planning, Tony?" Happy gave him the look that Tony was familiar with. The one that said 'I know you're going to do something monumentally stupid and we're all screwed because of it.' 

"That kid in there just lost the last bit of family he had left. There are some evil assholes on the lookout for him because they somehow found out he is enhanced. I still don't know much about that because his aunt and uncle drilled it into his head that he shouldn't talk about having powers. I'm going to do the only thing that I can do - I'm going to protect him. And to do that, he needs to be family. So, it looks like I just had a bouncing, sticky baby boy."

Happy pinched the bridge of his nose. "Does Pepper know yet?" 

"No, she doesn't. Everything has happened too quickly over the past couple of hours. I'll give her a call in the morning," Tony pats Happy's shoulder. "Jarvis, start creating the paperwork showing that Peter is my biological kid." He began heading back to the kitchen. "Now come meet your new nephew." 

"Dammit, Tony," Happy says, exasperated but following anyway.

When they arrive back in the kitchen, Tony finds that Peter had covered up his food. Peter turns to him. "I didn't want your food to get cold again."

"I appreciate it, kiddo," he comes out the counter to where his food is sitting. "I want you to meet someone important to me. He's a good friend and he's my bodyguard. Peter, meet Happy Hogan."

Peter turns in his seat and looks at the man in awe. "Hi, Mr. Hogan! You must be super tough if you protect Mr. Stark because he's Iron Man and he's already really tough."

"He's the toughest guy I know, Pete." 

"You can just call me Happy, kid. Nice to meet you." He looks up at Tony. "I've got a few things to dig into and then I'm going to crash for the night. You going to be okay here?"

"Yeah. The two of us are going to have a quick talk while we finish dinner then get to bed. It's been a rough night, for both of us."

"Good night, Mr. Happy," Peter says around a forkful of noodles.

"Night, kid."

When they're alone, Tony and Peter quietly finish their food. As Tony takes up their plates and puts them in the dishwasher, he quietly says. "Peter, I..."

"I heard you, Mr. Happy, and Mr. Jarvis talking." Peter's head is bowed sadly as clenches his hands together. 

"I know I'm not your family, and I wish that whoever did this never even heard your name much less hurt you all like this. But you came to me for help, and this is the only way I can do that. You understand that your uncle had already started this by erasing your records, right? He was in the process of getting you all new identities and I can at least continue that for him and your aunt."

"I know. It just makes me sad," he whispered. Tony hates it when the boy begins to cry. He moved around the counter and did what he used to wish his father would do when he was upset and wrapped the small boy in a hug. 

"It's okay to be sad about this, but I'm going to protect you the best I can."

Peter continued to cry. Tony picked him up and carried him into the living room and sat with him in his lap on the sofa. Running his fingers in the soft curls, he asked, "Are you okay with being my kid?" He only received a quick nod in agreement. "I gotta warn you. I don't know how to be a dad. I might screw up and make you mad, but I don't mean to screw it up I can just be an idiot at times - even if I am a genius."

"No one knows how to be a dad before they are one. That's what Uncle Ben said. He told me that he was scared too like that when I first came to live with them but he was a great dad."

"So you get to show me the ropes then. There's a whole lot we have to figure out since we're doing this. One thing though, I don't think we can quite send you back to school yet. We don't want those assholes to find you so I think we should homeschool you for now. But we'll decide that tomorrow, Peter Stark."

"I get to keep my name?

"You've lost enough."


End file.
